HATCHERY AND GENETIC MANAGEMENT PLAN (HGMP) Species or Hatchery Program: Round Butte Hatchery Spring Chinook Program Hatchery Stock: Deschutes River Spring Chinook ODFW Stock 066 Agency/Operator: Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife Watershed & Region: Deschutes River Watershed High Desert Region Draft Submitted: Submitted for Consideration Under ESA Section 4(d): July 20, 2017 Date Last Updated: July 20, 2017 1. GENERAL PROGRAM DESCRIPTION 1.1. Name of hatchery or program. Round Butte Hatchery (RBH), Deschutes River spring Chinook program (stock 066). 1.2. Species and population (or stock) under propagation, and ESA status. Spring Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha) in the Deschutes River were reviewed for possible listing as part of the Mid Columbia ESU, but a ruling on March 9, 1998 found that listing was not warranted for this population (NMFS 1998). Summer/Fall Chinook salmon in the Deschutes River were reviewed for listing in 1999, and were ruled “Not Warranted," September 16, 1999 (NMFS 1999b). 1.3. Responsible organization and individuals. Lead Contact: Scott Patterson, Fish Propagation Program Manager Agency or Tribe: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Address: 3406 Cherry Dr. NE., Salem, OR 97303 Telephone: 503/947-6218 FAX: 503/947-6202 Email: [email protected] On-site Lead Contact: Rod French, District Fish Biologist Agency or Tribe: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Address: 3701 W 13th Street, The Dalles, OR 97058 Telephone: (541) 296-4628 FAX: (541) 298-4993 Email: [email protected] On-site Contact: Hatchery Manager Agency or Tribe: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Address: 6825 S.W. Belmont Lane, Madras, OR 97741 Telephone: (541) 325-5327 FAX: (541) 325-5369 Email: Other agencies, Tribes, cooperators, or organizations involved, including contractors and the extent of involvement in the program: Although the ODFW is responsible for operation of the facility, however, due to the hatchery location and funding responsibility, Portland General Electric (PGE) personnel are involved in the maintenance and, occasionally, in the operation of the hatchery and associated upstream fish trap at the Pelton Regulating Dam. 1 The Deschutes River at the hatchery site is considered “waters bordering the Warm Springs Indian Reservation”. Under the treaty of 1855, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon (CTWS) maintain the right to harvest fish from the Deschutes River (CTWS and USA 1855). ODFW works closely with the CTWS Department of Branch of Natural Resources (CTWS-BNR) regarding operation of the Pelton Trap, and the hatchery trap for RBH. Under agreement with the CTWS, all fish in excess of broodstock are provided to the Tribes (CTWS Resolution No. 1935, January 20, 1961). 1.4. Funding source, staffing level, and annual hatchery program operational costs. • Funding for this program is approximately 82 % from PGE and 16% from BPA. BPA funds support the aspects of the Hood River spring Chinook program at Round Butte Hatchery. • RBH has a staff of five permanent full-time employees, one six-month seasonal employee, and up to eleven seasonal fin clippers. The annual budget does not discriminate between the three rearing programs at RBH. In FY2008, approximately 36% of the fish (by weight) reared at the hatchery are spring Chinook, 42% summer steelhead smolts for mitigation releases, and 22 % post-smolt steelhead for the Lake Simtustus put-and-take fishery and for the fry being utilized for the Reintroduction effort. Annual Program Budget. The annual program budget is displayed in Table 1.4.1. Table 1.4.1. Annual program budget for Round Butte Hatchery, 2004 – 2008. Fiscal Total PGE Portion of Mitigation StS Supplementation StS BPA ChS Year Budget Budget Component Component PGE ChS Component Component Per Amount Weight % of Ttl Weight % of Ttl Weight % of Ttl Weight % of Ttl Jul 1 - Cent (lbs) Budget (lbs) Budget (lbs) Budget (lbs) Budget Jun 30 2008 $745,659 79% $586,949 42,015 42% 21,817 22% 28,462 29% 6,859 7% 2007 $700,309 80% $564,709 41,861 40% 16,486 16% 34,531 33% 11,111 11% 2006 $617,278 78% $482,821 45,959 42% 16,735 15% 35,123 32% 12,120 11% 2005 $545,908 77% $419,468 43,440 44% 11,970 12% 34,480 35% 8,640 9% 2004 $527,330 78% $408,879 42,840 43% 13,625 13% 33,517 34% 9,627 10% 1.5. Location(s) of hatchery and associated facilities. RBH is located on the powerhouse deck of Round Butte Dam on the Portland General Electric’s Pelton Round Butte Project; and ODFW is responsible for operation of the facility. Adult salmonids are captured in the Pelton Trap, located on the east bank of the lower Deschutes River at river mile 100.1 immediately downstream from the Pelton Regulating Dam (WRIA number 17070306.065) at an elevation of 1,390 ft above mean sea level, at latitude 44° 43' 34” N and longitude 121° 14’ 45” W. The Pelton Trap is a 2 Buckley-type fish trap with a modified hopper, and is used to lift fish to ground level where a detachable chute is used to transfer them to an anesthetic tank. Adult salmonids collected for brood stock are transported from the Pelton Trap by truck approximately 15 miles to the holding ponds at RBH, located on the powerhouse deck immediately below Round Butte Dam (WRIA number 17070306.081). This facility sits 1,591ft above MSL at latitude 44° 36' 12” N and longitude 121° 16’ 36” W. Round Butte Dam is the uppermost of the three-dam complex, and it impounds the Deschutes River at RM 111 forming Lake Billy Chinook. This reservoir also impounds the lower Metolius and Crooked rivers. The middle of the three dams is Pelton Dam at RM 103 which impounds Lake Simtustus, located downstream from Round Butte Dam and upstream from the Pelton Regulating Dam. The Pelton Ladder, a 2.8 miles long,10 feet wide, 6 feet deep conventional pool and drop fish ladder, located on the east bank of the Deschutes was originally constructed to facilitate the movement of returning adult salmonids volitionally around the Regulation Reservoir and Lake Simtustus. From there, adult salmonids would swim upstream to Round Butte Dam and were moved over the dam by means of a trap and a tramway. The ladder was abandoned as an adult passage facility after it was agreed that fish survival through the hydroelectric project was not adequate to maintain naturally-produced anadromous runs. While spring Chinook have been released from RBH since 1973, the Pelton Ladder has been used and evaluated as a rearing area since releases in 1977. Rearing juvenile spring Chinook in the Pelton Ladder has proven to be a unique and effective technique for increasing adult spring Chinook returns (Smith 1991). Smolts reared in the ladder have shown higher smolt-to-adult return rates than smolts reared in the hatchery environment (Smith 1991). For example, the average return rate for five brood years from 1977 to 1983 of spring Chinook (adults and jacks) reared in the ladder was 1.6% compared to 0.5% for those reared in Ponds (Lindsay et al. 1989). Spring Chinook reared in the ladder apparently benefit from the semi-natural rearing conditions and demonstrated better ability of volitional migration at the onset of smoltification. CTWS-BNR cooperate with ODFW and PGE in the Pelton Ladder rearing program, a component of the larger Hood River Production Project (HRPP), an anadromous fish supplementation and habitat improvement project approved by the Northwest Power Planning Council (now the Northwest Power and Conservation Council) and subsequently funded by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). Under this program, spring Chinook are reared at RBH and the Pelton Ladder for later release into the Hood River subbasin. CTWS-BNR conduct monitoring and evaluation of juvenile spring Chinook at RBH used by the HRPP. Modifications to the ladder were completed in 1995 to double the previous capacity of the ladder rearing program. This expansion allowed an additional 187,000 spring Chinook juveniles to be reared in the ladder. These modifications were made as a part of the above referenced HRPP. 3 1.6. Type of program. The RBH spring Chinook program has two programmatic functions. It functions as an ISOLATED HARVEST program: "to maintain the supply of fish to the fishery that would otherwise have been lost because of habitat degradation or blocked access to natural spawning areas" (IMST 2001). RBH was constructed in 1974 after initial efforts at fish passage around the Pelton-Project failed. This program was initiated as mitigation for spring Chinook and summer steelhead runs that previously spawned upstream of the Pelton Round Butte Project (Ratliff and Schulz 1999). In addition, RBH also functions as an ISOLATED RECOVERY program. This program can be divided into two general subsets: 1) Off Site - "to reestablish salmon or steelhead populations in habitat from which they were extirpated" (IMST 2001). RBH will be used in the effort to reintroduce spring Chinook, summer steelhead and sockeye into streams above the Pelton Round Butte Project. This role will be greatly expanded for all three of these species when the "Interim Phase" of the Fish Passage Plan (Ratliff et al. 2001) is initiated. 2) On Site- "The use of streamside incubators to restore native salmon and trout stock to historic levels of abundance" (IMST 2001). Related to number 1 above, due to disease concerns, one method that may be employed for all three species is placing eyed eggs in streamside incubators or hatch-boxes. This reduces the transmission of pathogens associated with the adults and allows for the culling of eggs from adults with certain viral diseases.